World News - Pope Urges World to Unite Against Poverty Pope Calls on World Leaders to Unite in Fight Against Poverty, Diseases Like Leprosy

Pope Benedict XVI called on world leaders to unite in the fight against poverty Sunday and sent two doves flying into St. Peter's Square in a symbol of peace, continuing a tradition begun by his predecessor, John Paul II. From his studio window overlooking the square, Benedict offered a special greeting to those who suffer from leprosy, a disfiguring condition also known as Hansen's disease that affects hundreds of thousands of people worldwide. Noting that Sunday was World Day of Leprosy sufferers, the pontiff encouraged missionaries, health care personnel and volunteers working in the field against the scourge.... http://abcnews.go.com

A man picking up his young son for a supervised court visit was shot twice at point-blank range by the boy's 81-year-old great-grandmother and died of his injuries, police said. Alex Reyes, 26, was shot Saturday while picking up his 18-month-old son, said Jim Amormino, a spokesman for the Orange County Sheriff's Department. Witnesses reported that Reyes appeared to be having a casual conversation with his ex-wife and her grandmother, Jeane Ellen Allen, on the front porch of their home, when Allen allegedly pulled out a gun and fired, said Amormino. "There was no argument," he said. "She just pulled the gun out and started firing." Reyes was shot in the hip and the head and died at a hospital, said sheriff's department Lt. Ted Boyne. ...http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=1554270

Brazilian TV has broadcast footage of a baby girl being rescued from a black plastic bag floating in a lake. Amateur footage captured the moment when the bag was fished out and opened by a park worker in Belo Horizonte. Jose da Cruz, who was filmed performing the rescue, said he was first alerted to the bag by sounds of a "cat crying". The baby, thought to be two months old, is said to be healthy, and is being kept in hospital while authorities search for relatives. "I heard a sound of a cat," Mr da Cruz told television channel TV Globo. "But, between a child and a cat, the noise is the same. "Then, the noise was increasing and it caught my attention." Mr da Cruz said he then called security and a local cameraman, who happened to be filming in the area, filmed the baby being pulled out. ...http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4659568.stm

White House economic adviser Ben Bernanke will almost certainly win Senate approval on Tuesday to become the 14th chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve. Beyond that, the road gets hazy. Bernanke, head of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, will take control of the U.S. central bank in a period of crucial choices for monetary policy and heightened economic uncertainty.That uncertainty grew on Friday with a government report that showed U.S. economic growth slowed sharply to a 1.1 percent annual rate in the fourth quarter of last year, the slimmest gain in three years.Under the experienced hand of Alan Greenspan, who has served as Fed chief since August 1987, the central bank has lifted benchmark overnight interest rates to 4.25 percent in 13 quarter-point steps since June 2004 to head off inflation.Fed officials meet again on Tuesday, Greenspan's last day in office, and a 14th small rate hike appears assured....http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060129/bs_nm/economy_fed_bernanke_dc

Police found the bodies of three children lying side-by-side on a bed in their home Saturday after their mother said she smothered them, investigators said. Officers were sent to the southwestern Arkansas home after the father called authorities from New York saying his wife had confessed to the killings.Paula Eleazar Mendez, 43, collapsed when officers arrived and was taken to a hospital to be treated for ingesting a toxic substance, officials said. She was under guard there until she could be taken to a jail to face homicide charges, Police Chief Richard McKinley said.Notes found in the house may disclose a motive, McKinley said, though he would not elaborate....http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-01-28-triple-slaying_x.htm?csp=34

Since the beginning of the war in Iraq, there have been questions about U.S. troops' sensitivities to Islamic culture — especially when dealing with women. Now there are new questions about a tactic the military calls leveraging. For example, marines found weapons and explosives in a woman's house and wanted her to lead them to her husband. The military says this sort of intimidation is a necessary tool. But internal military documents suggest it's taken a new turn: Detaining wives of suspected insurgents in hopes of getting their husbands to surrender. "If they're being taken solely for the purpose of drawing their men out of hiding, it can even appear to look like hostage taking," said Jumana Musa of Amnesty International....http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=1553869&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312